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It was open season for budget discussions at city hall on earlier this week. And it was even more exciting than it sounds.

A wide range of topics and city departments were touched on, including the fate of spring clean-up, upping recycling fees and the new direction for Timmins Tourism.

With city council desperately seeking measures to cut costs anywhere possible, two weeks ago the department of public works announced the cancellation of spring clean-up.

In response, the department is looking to offer four weeks of free residential tipping fees during the month of May.

Director of public works Luc Duval said the move would save taxpayers $87,000 and the "cost savings would be pretty much be reinvested in the same department" for services such as improved co-collection activities.

Duval said he recognized spring clean-up is a "valued service for many residents" that has been going on for many years. But he wanted to explore the context of eliminating it for the sake of the budget.

According to Duval, all signs and statistics point to the spring clean-up slowly becoming redundant as other activities around the city have performed similar functions.

The city has always hired contractors to bring in machinery to help with the clean-up, and this year would be no different.

"We do have heavier weights being picked up, we know we're picking up every week a little bit of spring clean-up material that fits in that grey bin," said Duval.

"We see reductions at spring clean-up all the time with the introduction of Hazardous Waste Day implemented four years ago."

He added that May is one of the busiest times of year for public works, as staff is pushed to the limits removing sand from the streets, sweeping the sidewalks and taking care of drainage matters.

"We now have an electronics depot running 100% on the time at Deloro (Landfill) and you see that bin really full on many occasions," continued Duval, referring to the old TVs and computers that used to end up on the curb. "We've provided other avenues to collect some of that waste that found its way on the curb side in the spring."

In addition, Duval said the spring clean-up isn't as environmentally friendly as perceived.

"One hundred per cent of it goes to the landfill," he said. "There's recycling that gets thrown in there, there's no two ways about it, and we can't put money into separating it. It all goes to the landfill."

Among the options presented to councillors wishing to save the spring clean-up, Coun. Todd Lever thought moving it to late summer or fall could be a much cheaper and equally effective outcome.

"I think there is a good solution here," said Lever. "This no tipping fee in May will really be popular because every time I go to the dump, I'm just hoping I don't have to pay anything. So when you know you can just start bringing as much as possible, it's a really good policy way of improving taking the costs off the municipality and, at the same time, the residents don't have to pay."

He explained having a later pickup could be a good one-year test.

"In combination with the removal of tipping fees, you'll be able to compare the costs of a late summer or fall pickup to see if it's something that should be continued at all," said Lever. "If costs go down significantly in the fall, you kind of know that the no tipping fee worked. I think it would spur a lot of people to go to the dump."

Coun. John Curley said that spring clean-up costs potentially going down is a reason to keep it alive. He suggested putting the spring clean-up in the budget, but at a reduced cost of $50,000, assuming the service will be less expensive to run as the years go by.

"If we put spring clean up in mid-June, all your work will be done, and you should be well on our ways to cleaning up streets for sand and what else," Curley saidl. "I would still like to see it in (the budget). I think your (spring clean-up) cost is going to go down as more and more is being put in grey bins."

With council not ready to make a firm decision on spring clean-up, it will be added to a list of priority budget items when council discussions begin again in March.

Another item up for debate was a standing request by public works to increase the environmental fee charged to each household.

The fee was put in place to help the municipality manage the provincially mandated change to curb side recycling in 1997.

The public works department is proposing a $10 hike, from $35 to $45, which equates to a raise of about $0.20 per week.

Duval explained the rationale and the advantages behind the request which would generate $200,000 in new revenue.

"The fee itself is very important to us," he said. "Seeing the success of our program, from 2,600 tons a year, to right now at 3,400 tons a year, to a projection of 4,000 tons a year for 2013.

"Had we not changed anything and contracted out the recycling service and gone to bi-weekly rather than weekly, that fee at $45 would have been around $65 to $70."

Coun. Steve Black said he understood the department needed more funds to keep up the successful recycling program, but disagreed with the hike being disguised as a one-time fee.

"I think those are there for things like the hospital request, police station, a one-time cost then it's off the tax bill," said Black. "It's a one-time fee which creates revenue for the city. I don't get the purpose of having this in as an environmental fee."

Duval explained that as the city improves its recycling performance and reaches more citizens, Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) gives more money to the city to fund its programs.

"The environmental fee certainly supports our diversion activities and it's shown as that as a budget line," said Duval. "It's also shown like that when we make application to the government. All that together shows how our citizens are contributing to the success of the program.

"It supports the blue bins, the replacement of bins, the maintenance of inventory, everything we do in recycling. It does cost money to process the recycling and transport it to the centres. The more success we have, the more revenue we get (from WDO). It's important for us to have that line item there as such."

Despite the explanation, other councillors suggested other options.

"We approved a new truck to help pick up more recyclables and get a little more efficiency on the streets to get to everybody's house when we say we're going to get there," said Curley. "We have that increase, and we now have an environmental fee increase. I know it's not something we have to decide tonight, but I'm not happy with the $10."

Coun. Pat Bamford added, "We're trying to do too much in this city at once."

He pointed to an option offered on Duval's report proposing a $5 increase which would bring in a more modest $100,000 for the department.

"Do we have to have everybody who didn't have bins last year get one? I say no," said Bamford. "We got into processing because of millions of dollars of funding from the government. We don't have to continue with that fast pace.

"Why don't we reduce our initiative a little bit this year and put some of it off till next year and go after this gradually? I'm looking at ways to reduce the problems for our taxpayers."

Coun. Andrew Marks stated, "We can call it whatever we want, I call it just another tax and I know that's what people who have to pay it call it."

Timmins CAO Joe Torlone proposed shelving the debate for the night to allow more information to be collected. He revealed that the city spends $160,000 to maintain rural area landfills alone.

"I understand the concern about the $10 but I also understand the need for the $35 fee and what that revenue generates," said Torlone. "If you could give us a little time, we'll come back with a more in-depth report."

While it wasn't a unanimous position, some councillors requested a review of Timmins' tourism strategy presented by department head Guy Lamarche in January.

"We're looking at a (tourism) budget of $480,000 and I don't know if that's where it should be," said Coun. Noella Rinaldo. "I think we should be taking advantage of (Lamarche's) expertise and using it in another way.

"We have a responsibility to the public to look at tourism in a new way, especially when we've lost our two key main players," continued Rinaldo. "I think it's an opportunity to have some savings and find a better way for that department to run."

Coun. Steve Black said he wasn't as interested in attracting tourists from larger markets as had been proposed, though he did agree with some of Lamarche's ideas.

"The people I've heard from would like to see tourism in Timmins be events and festivals they can take part in and will also attract people in the area," said Black. "Guy touched on that, but I think that's the direction we should go in."

There will be a lull in budget discussion as councillors and department heads wait until March 4 for city council's next committee of the whole meeting.

Poll

One cut being considered by Timmins council is the annual Spring Clean-Up. I think council should:

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Cut it if it saves money ... and my tax dollars.

Keep it as is ... curbside pickin' is part of spring.

Cut! I won't miss it, if I can take the crap to the landfill for free.